If her electoral speeches do not have to be polished, the components that come out of the SME that this economist co-owns with Thierry Auchlin, are polished to perfection. Auchlin SA, founded in 1945, works from La Neuveville for the watchmaking, jewelry and other high-precision sectors. Just after Neuchâtel, its lakeside commune is a French-speaking enclave in Bernese land… Let’s meet thanks to the EPHJ.
Interview by Joël A. Grandjean
JSH® Magazine & Swiss Watch Passport Publisher & Editor in Chief
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Yes, but hush! I won’t tell you everything, we’re alchemists“, she answers to the question of whether when one trovalizes or tribofinishes, one is deburring. Madame le Maire is a pro at polishing…
Is French the watchmaking language?
Certainly yes, although the origins of watchmaking go back a long time ago to Germany. (…)
At the EPHJ trade exhibition, are you closer to the people of Neuchâtel or the people of Jura?
Is this a trick question? We are all from the Jura Mountains, where talent, know-how and skills are concentrated.
Do you lead a municipality like you lead a company?
Passion, commitment and perseverance are required for both activities. However, the constraints are quite different, as is the speed with which decisions are taken and applied.
Do politics and suppliers to the watch industry go hand in hand?
Rather, the question is whether a volunteer commitment is compatible with a professional activity? It requires mastery, a certain juggling skill, flexibility and a good amount of tiredness resistance…
Do the convictions of the politician clash with the realities of the boss? For example, paternity vacation?
Your feature has only one chapter for this interview, correct? I would talk about the woman’s beliefs, which can collide with the pragmatism of the entrepreneurship reality
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In watchmaking and in politics, how do you get respect as a woman?
By respecting yourself and having self confidence, which is the same for every single person.
If I tell you “Fabrique du Grenier”, what do you answer?
“Erismann-Schinz”, a time when “streams” of workers joined this factory located in the center of La Neuveville to produce all kinds of watchmaking components.
Funny, no watchmaking in your Art and History Museum?
There are remarkable collections between Bienne, La Chaux-de-Fonds and Le Locle, it’s hard to compete. But why not a temporary exhibition dedicated to the know-how of the watchmaking subcontracting industry, I will mention it to our curator, I swear!
Watchmaking has ennobled its crafts. The “little hands” have become “golden fingers”. As for the art of polishing, there is still a long way to go, right?
I hope this is a provocation… I can only invite you to discover our golden, platinum and diamond fingers…
Are there any materials that cannot be polished?
The materials we polish all have some kind of resistance…
